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Fortunately for the Phillies, Jerome Williams continued his impressive start in a Philadelphia uniform and the offense finally solved Colon in a 7-2 win. The Phillies hit seven singles leading to five runs in the decisive sixth inning. Ryan Howard led the offense with three RBIs.

In three starts against Philadelphia entering Saturday, Colon owned a 3-0 record with a 1.59 ERA with 17 strikeouts in 22 2/3 innings. He continued to dominate the Phillies early, holding them to one run on three hits through five innings. However, four consecutive singles to start the sixth doomed Colon.

Marlon Byrd, who homered off Colon in the fifth, said the Phillies adjusted their approach and avoided falling behind in the count against him.

"We kind of came out swinging tonight so [Colon] had to nitpick just a little bit more, use his off-speed a little bit more instead of pounding the zone with his fastball," Byrd said. "Tonight was one of those nights we were ready to hit it."

Williams delivered another solid outing in his fourth start for the Phillies. He pitched 6 1/3 innings and surrendered two runs on four hits and held the Mets to one hit through the first six innings. Matt den Dekker singled with one out in the second, and New York did not record another hit until Lucas Duda's single to center field to start the seventh – a span of 17 batters.

Williams, who improved to 3-0 with a 2.02 ERA with the Phils, said he hasn't felt this good on the mound since his rookie year with the San Francisco Giants in 2003.

"I was really in a good groove," Williams said of his stint with the Giants. "Then after that I kind of lost myself. I lost a sense of pitching with what I had. I wanted to be other people. That was a downfall. Now I'm back to where I need to be as myself."

The Mets employed the Phillies' offense in the seventh, using three singles to load the bases against Williams, which knocked him out of the game despite the six-run lead with one out in the inning.

"I was strictly fastball, sinker, cutter guy," Williams said. "I think now being in the starting rotation I can work on everything I can throw. I've been doing that on both sides of the plate and I think that's key."

For the fourth time in three weeks, reliever Justin De Fratus entered the game with the bases loaded. The Mets' fourth single of the seventh, this one from Wilmer Flores, got New York on the scoreboard with the RBI hit. A four-pitch walk to Juan Lagares cut the Phillies' lead to 6-2 and kept the bases loaded. But after another pitching change, left-hander Antonio Bastardo shut down the Mets' rally, striking out Curtis Granderson with the bases loaded to end the inning.

The Phillies have struggled to produce extra-base hits in key situations this season, but it didn't matter when they loaded the bases against Colon with nobody out in the sixth. Howard's two-run single to right field extended the Phillies' lead to 3-0. They didn't stop there as Philadelphia sent 10 batters to the plate. Domonic Brown, Carlos Ruiz and Cody Asche each delivered an RBI single in the frame.

Ruiz's run-scoring hit knocked Colon out of the game, but Asche picked up where the Phillies left off by singling to right field against reliever Buddy Carlyle to go ahead 6-0.

"I think we've seen better execution and putting things together in the last two weeks," manager Ryne Sandberg said. "A little bit more of what was expected early on."

Byrd celebrated his 37th birthday by hitting a home run to start the fifth for a 1-0 lead. The home run was his 25th of the season, which gave him a new career high. "Last year I set my career high. To come and do it again this year, the work that I put in and everything, I expected that to happen," Byrd said. "To do it in August is pretty cool, to get it done before September. I have a chance to keep adding to it."

Contact Meghan Montemurro at mmontemurro@delawareonline.com and follow her on Twitter at @M_Montemurro.